Late with the Argentina Trip Lowdown

This summer I went on a great family vacation, to celebrate my Dad's 75th birthday. It was him, my stepmom Ingrid and Mag and me. I didn't even know which country was Argentina on a map before I went, I didn't know our summer is their winter, I didn't know much except they have really good wine and really good dulce de leche, which are actually important things to know in my book.

So, here's a view of the Recoleta Cemetery which we could see from our sweet little hotel room window. (It wasn't a small room; the four of us shared the penthouse which had never been rented out before. This hotel is great and I have to recommend it here.

Just check out the pool and you'll see:

There's a lot to say about how great this country is. But one thing that amazed me was the homeless animals. Most every one we saw was well-taken care of and friendly. In the Recoleta Cemetery, there are about 40 cats. An overly friendly Policeman outside told us that two women come twice each day to feed them and they bring them in for shots. I loved this. I visited them a few times, and Evita. Except the last day, I just went there to say goodbye to the cats, not Evita.



But Evita is huge still. We spoke to half a dozen taxi drivers about her and they all love Evita dearly still. Wealthier people do not. The famous story about her is she would go to a _________ factory owner (bicycle, mattress, camera etc.) and say, "Give me 1000 __________s or I'm closing you down." Then she'd give the _________s to poor people. She'd also send every poor family a bicycle at Christmas. There is a city she started for children called Ciudad Evita. The promotional video we saw about it at Museo Evita made it seem like every child's dream. Yes it was propaganda but I think she and her husband also did a lot of really radical things for poor people.

The other famous story about her is that her body was stolen after she died by the military and kidnapped, mutilated, then buried in a grave with a fake name in Italy. Twenty or so years later she was returned to Buenos Aires and is now buried in Recoleta Cemetery. A girl giving a tour on the anniversary of Evita's death said this was her final shot at the rich, that she was poor and ended up being buried amongst people who had never accepted her. Now she is buried 80 meters down so she can't be stolen again. There were so many flowers and gifts for her on her death anniversary, and people paying respects or being tourists like us. I have heard she was friends with the Nazis and I have not looked into this. I obviously did not hear this from her supporters but from her detractors. She is still very much a part of Argentina. The current president is a Peronista but one taxi driver said there are no real Peronistas except the Perons.

So the food. There is a real Italian influence. The ice cream (helado) is the best I've had outside of Italy, and really I think it's as good as Italian gelato. There are six kinds of dulce de leche helado alone. (Dulce de leche is caramel. The variations on it are caramel ice cream with chocolate chips, or with a swirl of caramel sauce or a combination of the two or....) Dulce de leche is a central part of Argentine cuisine. I ate it 2 or 3 times a day usually.

Our hotel had a large bowl of it each morning next to the jams. Here is our hotel breakfast area. Just perfect. There were even little birds that lived in this atrium area. I can't believe we didn't take pictures of the breakfast spread. But it had little pancakes and eggs and all kinds of breads and cheeses and meats and cereals and fresh juices and sweet tomato jam and of course dulce de leche and lots more.

These are facturas, pastries, that were served in a lot of places. These are from a steakhouse where we ate on our last night in town.

One day we took a day trip to Colonia, Uruguay, right across the water from Buenos Aires. We took a ferry. For $10 more, we got first class. See us chilling:

The first class decision turned out to be totally worth it because the ferry could not dock in Uruguay for hours and hours. The trip was one hour, but then we waited a hundred feet off shore for three or four more hours on the boat because the tide was out. Down in coach class, there was almost a riot or two. We literally looked over the railing at the masses surrounding the captain while we were drinking capuccinos.

Finally we got off the boat and took a cab around Colonia. It is such a cool town. Again, awesome homeless animals such as this one. (Nice photo Mag.)

This is a typical street in Colonia, all cobbles and small houses.

So, we took the cab around for one hour, and had to get back to get the ferry home to Buenos Aires. We wantd to stay longer but we'd been told there was no room on the boat the following day or the day after. ut after hours of waiting to get back on the ferry, we decided to risk it and stay the night. I had noticed this really cute little hotel during our whirlwind tour of the town and I called up and they had room.

Then we went to dinner at this restaurant called El Drugstore that we'd read about. It was so delicious. There was great live music and the owner was sweet. Dad and Ingrid shared a paella. They were psyched. Mag and I had yummy salad and I forget what else. Good wine and such a comfortable funky place.

Outside El Drugstore is this awesome old car which they use as a planter. There were quite a few old cars around town, a la Cuba. Some were in great shape like this pretty red one:

Okay I have to wrap this up. A few more things. We went to a locals only place near our hotel because I liked their sign. It turned out to be Ingrid's favorite place we ate. Rodi Bar. We went back there for our last lunch. The first time we went, there was a HUGE ASS hail storm.

Dad had this fish and potatoes thing that he loved too. Oh the wine in Argentina- you can buy the cheapest one (which is about a dollar a glass) and it's so good. You can buy the most expensive bottle on the menu and it's twenty bucks and out of this world. (This from a person who doesn't know shit about wine, but I know their wine is the best I've had.)

We went to the Modern Museum there (the MALBA) but it was closed, so we had lunch at their cafe. So good. I forget what we had but it's like a fancy museum restaurant in the States but much cheaper. Here's Ingrid and me there. We went back to see the art later and saw a Lichtenstein show. At another museum we saw an intense Diego Rivera exhibit.

There is a subway line that is these old old cars from the 1930s. Here's cute Mag on one of them. They even have the old ads they used to have.

Okay I have to stop this. It's getting tedious. But I'll put some more pictures up without commentary. The main point of this posting is

I love Argentina. I love it love it love it.

Late Post on the Ptown Trip

1. DeNicola's for wine and garlic bread
2. Gino's for caeser salad, raab pasta, and whiskey
3. Bikeride to Tennessee Reds for whiskey
4. Puddletown School
5. Downtown biking, Pioneer Square, Powell's, Park Blocks, Coffee
6. Veritable Quandry for ravioli, salad and manhattans



7. Higgins for tapioca tart and whiskey
8. Fujin for crispy eggplant and tsin tao
9. Reed College
10. Molalla for plants and Cold Stone ice cream
11. El Palenque for crown royal, guacamole and etc. Mexican/el Salvadorean
12. Delta for whiskey and glass bead game
13. Farmer's Market on Park Blocks- asparagus, basil, raab, tomatoes, carrots, sage
14. Pastaworks for fresh mozz and olives
15. Puddletown rummage sale- shoes and a tshirt
16. Joel's house- beers, music
17. Cooking big dinner at home- homemade pasta and caprese salad and wine
18. Eating in backyard under Christmas lights
19. Fire in backyard
20. Goodbye to Thandi, Trev, and Xime
21. Annie's Donuts and PDX

New Restaurant With Buzz- Is it worth it?

Last week, Dad and Ingrid took Mag and me to Maremma, a new place in the West Village. The chef is a friend of the family so I think we got good treatment or whatever, but I don't think the restaurant is all that. It was good, and spacious. But the pasta Mag and I split (called Moonshine because it had bourbon in the sauce I guess) was really just fair to middling. Also the salad was bitter and hardly dressed. What was good was something in the appetizer part of the meal but it mustn't have been that good because I forget. Something about bean salad? Next time I'll write the review sooner so the important nouns/adjectives etc. come quicker to mind.

One good part was Ingrid asked to ride my bike on the way there. She hadn't been on a bike in years. I was nervous she'd bail but she did great and rode from 6th Ave to the restaurant without incident.



Dad and I found it really funny.



Here's a cute series of Dad and Mag. Dad often opens his mouth when you take a picture of him, or maybe just when food is around. He also says, "Ta DA" whenever a flash goes off.

Nutella Tart Anyone?

Here's something I made once that I highly recommend. Nutella is one brand name I don't mind using in everyday conversation.

As you can see, I made individual ones. But if the dough scares you, use one from the store.

Nutella Tart

1 fully baked 22 cm (8 3/4 in) tart shell*

200 g Nutella (2/3 cup)
140 g bittersweet chocolate (Herme' uses Valhorna Noir Gastronomie) (4 3/4 oz)
200 g butter (7 Tbsp)
1 large egg, room temperature, stirred with a fork
3 large egg yolks, room temperature, stirred with a fork
2 Tbsp sugar
140 g Hazelnuts (1 cup)

Toast the hazelnuts 10 minutes in a 180C (350F) hot oven. Remove as much skin as possible by rubbing the hazelnuts inside a kitchen towel. Chop coarsely.

heat oven to 190C (375F)

Melt chocolate and butter separately. Allow to cool till 40C (104F).

Spread the Nutella at the bottom of the tart shell

Mix the egg into the (cooled down) chocolate. Do this gently to avoid incorporating air. Add yolks, little by little, then the sugar. Finally, fold in the melted butter, always stirring gently. This will take a little time. Pour on top of the Nutella and sprinkle with the toasted hazelnuts.

Bake for about 11 minutes. The sides of the filling should be set but the middle still slightly wobbly if shaken (that's how it's supposed to be). Let cool to room temperature. Eat :-). Any remaining tart, stored in the fridge, will taste great cold, the next day.



*Herme's recipe for tart dough uses 285 g (10 oz) butter, 150 g (1 1/2 cups) confectioner's sugar, 100 g (1/2 cup) finely ground blanched almonds, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp vanilla bean pulp, 2 large eggs and 490 g (3 1/2 cups) all purpose flour to make enough dough for 4 tart shells, using the standard procedure to make tart dough. This dough tastes great but is quite fragile, i.e. not too easy to work with. You could also use any other sweet tart crust dough.

A gig by any other name

So Ben Taylor did the nice favor of asking me to play and sing songs with him and a few others last weekend. It was at Pete's Candy Store in Wilhelmsburg. A tiny old boxcar attached to a bar. I've never really been "in the band" before. It has its perks- half-price sandwiches and two free drinks namely. Moving equipment around and plugging things in is more work than it seems. It was so much fun though and I was a little nervous but not enough to matter.

Here are a few more pictures of the band...








And a few shots of the glamourous audience.







We played seven songs which Ben wrote. We had a pedal steel guitar player, a drummer, a keyboard player, and two guitars. I wish I had a recording of it because i think it was really pretty. We may try it again soon. Ben thought of the name "E as in Echo" so maybe we'll try that. Matty Charles let us play before him, and also a band named Ursa Minor. The link link isn't working as I do this so no links but look these good bands up and also Pete's itself. And finally Ben and his real band have a Myspace space-

http://myspace.com/westmusic.

The first song I sing on but real subtle-like.

Thanks for coming to our show.

Coming to a blog near you

I'm about to get back on the horse in this little blog rodeo. Something happened around Thanksgiving where I gave up on a few of my good habits including posting here but stay tuned please.

Kayt

Southside Guitars Hell Yeah

I bought a very nice guitar from Ben and Sam's new guitar store, Southside Guitars, on Driggs near S. 2nd. They know a huge amount about guitars and have dozens of beautiful ones.

We stopped by after Peter Luger and looked around. Stop by and visit them.

Day After Thanksgiving Trip to Peter Luger

Only my dad would want to do this after we were all still so full from the day before, but he and Ingrid took me and Mag and Genevieve to Peter Luger for lunch on the day after Thanksgiving. I'd never been there. The waiter was surly but in a hilarious and intentional way, telling us what to order, mocking us for needing menus etc. We loved it and Dad gave it back. Those three had a T-bone steak that they said was the best any of them had ever had. Mag and I had creamed spinach and french fries- both were so good. And the desserts mit schlag were unbelieveable.



The experience and the food here are amazing. But from my seat I could see the garbage truck collecting literally four dumpsters worth of leftover meat parts. Not the best place for vegetarians but everyone should see it once. Dad was very happy here. We all were but especially him. He can't eat things like this anymore but once in a while it's okay.



We tried to do the afternoon drinking thing, but only could manage two Bloody Marys each.








Dad's eyes aren't what they used to be so it's a shot in the dark when he takes the photo but he did pretty well:



It feels like a lodge in the Alps inside- really festive. (That's probably not a word most people would use to describe the place since it's all business but it very much feels like home, if your home is full of Germans and beef.) Everything is just done so well. Even the onion rolls were great. It's not cheap but I hear you can get a hamburger reasonably or you could just have french fries and creamed spinach and get laughed at by the waiters.